The majority voted in favour of a motion to read the bill for a third time.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through to become law here. ) This means that the majority agree to pass the bill in the House and that it will now be sent to the Senate for their consideration.

The majority voted in favour of a motion to agree to the bill.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through to become law here. ) This means that the majority agree with the bill and that the House can now decide on whether to read it for a third time and therefore pass it in the House.

The majority voted in favour of a motion to read the bill for a second time.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through to become law here. ) This means that the majority agree with the main idea of the bill and that the House can now discuss it in more detail.

increase the concessional patient co-payment by 80 cents from 1 January 2015;

increase the general patient co-payment by $5.00 from 1 January 2015;

increase the concessional safety net threshold by two prescriptions each year for four years, from 2015 to 2018; and

increase the general patient safety net threshold by 10 per cent each year for four years, from 2015 to 2018.

(More information about the bill, including its explanatory memorandum and bills digest, is available here.)

A co-payment is the amount paid by the patient towards the cost of their PBS medicine. The government covers the rest of the cost.

Yes

Yes (strong)

Passed by a small majority

How
"voted moderately for"
is worked out

The MP's votes count towards a weighted average where the most important votes get
50 points,
less important votes get
10 points,
and less important votes for which the MP was absent get
2 points.
In important votes the MP gets awarded the full
50 points
for voting the same as the policy,
0 points
for voting against the policy, and
25 points
for not voting. In less important votes, the MP gets
10 points
for voting with the policy,
0 points
for voting against, and
1
(out of 2)
if absent.

Then, the number gets converted to a simple english language phrase based on the range of values it's within.

No of votes

Points

Out of

Most important votes (50 points)

MP voted with policy

1

50

50

MP voted against policy

0

0

0

MP absent

2

50

100

Less important votes (10 points)

MP voted with policy

0

0

0

MP voted against policy

0

0

0

Less important absentees (2 points)

MP absent*

0

0

0

Total:

100

150

*Pressure of other work means MPs or
Senators are not always available to vote – it does not always
indicate they have abstained. Therefore, being absent on a less
important vote makes a disproportionatly small
difference.